On 31st Jult 2017 an accident was recorded, where two workers were killed and a few severely injured when hot polythene gallons accidentally fell on them. This unfortunate incident happened at a Plastic Company, Ludhiana, Punjab India. The accident happened took two more important life of firefighting rescuers.
The hot poly gallon were ferocious in nature but the damage to the human body would have been worse if the gallons were filled with molten iron. This is usually the case in Steel industries across.
Undesirable incidents could occur anytime, especially in a hazardous work environment. It is our duty to look into the factors that increase the risk of industrial injury, and reduce it. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), more than 317 million accidents happen on the job each year resulting in more than 2.3 million deaths!
Therefore focusing on preventive methods is ones prime responsibility. An important factor is adopting safety prone work culture into the organisation, for which an employer must bring in Safety Training.
Safety Training can be grouped under 2 major categories: AWARENESS & COMPLIANCE
AWARENESS
Safety Training begins with creating awareness of the hazards that employees may encounter in their workplace and knowing the necessity of the PPE.
Workers who work with molten metal must understand the degree of heat that they may come in contact with and the PPE required for their safety. Knowledge must be given of EN ISO 11612 certified garments that provide protection to workers from convective heat, radiant heat, and molten material, or a combination thereof.
Similarly, employees that may be exposed to flash fire should be instructed to wear garments certified by the NFPA 2112 standard. This standard lays down specifications for garments developed for protection against flash fire hazard.
For employees who need protection against Arc Flash should know of the intensity of the radiant energy that they may be exposed to and also of the Arc rating required for their FR Clothing. To select appropriate clothing employer must follow NFPA 70E standard, which outlines specific PPE needed for electric arc flash and arc blast risk potentials.
Workers using high visibility garments, should be informed of the class and type of apparel necessary for their working conditions, as identified by the EN ISO 20471:2013 standard.
COMPLIANCE
Employees will only remain safe if they wear their FR Clothing correctly as advised. Along with the training on specific certified FR Clothing, they must follow the method of use. They should periodically be reminded of simple instruction, such as:
- Shirts must be tucked in at any given time
- All Garments to be properly zipped and buttoned
- No rolling up of sleeves
- No non-FR clothing to be worn over FR garments.
- No under layers, as it could melt to the skin if exposed to heat or flame.